Independent Study

Overview

All majors complete a one-semester Independent Study seminar in junior year and a
two-semester senior I.S. Working closely with a faculty advisor, each senior identifies
a topic of interest, researches it intensively, and writes an extensive study which
must later be defended in an oral examination before two members of the department.

Recent Topics

Recent topics have ranged from the examination of marriage and death in three plays
by Euripides to the portrayal of national identity in the works of Vergil and J.R.R.
Tolkien. Lisa Favicchia ‘13, a double major in Classics and English, composed an epistolary
novella, entitled “The Lost Letters of Calpurnia,” based upon the life of Pliny the
Younger’s wife; David Chu ’12 examined Euripides’ choral innovations in Greek tragedy;
Alice Dudley ’11 wrote a cultural biography of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius;
and Kaylin Gaal, ’11 completed an I.S. entitled, “They Did What to Their Junk? Roman
Views of Greek Athletic Nudity.”